Dimitri and Rose- Family Affairs
by Bianca21Bianca
Summary: So I decided to right a short story about what I imagined Rose and Dimitris life might be like if they were able to have kids and after all the hassle of Vampire Academy series was over. I do not own the characters nor do I own the world in which it is set in. Hope you enjoy.
1. Chapter 1

"Papa! Papa!"

I turned around quick, just in time to catch the little dark haired boy running towards me.

"Nickolai" I sighed at his name, my son. Lifting him up as he snuggled deep in my arms and laid his head against my chest. Had he gotten bigger?

"Where have you been? Mama said you would be home yesterday" I smiled against his thick hair as I leaned to give him a kiss on his forehead, the word 'yesterday' came out sounding more like est-urd-day. I carried him over to where the other guardians that I was with were all standing, they looked over at me, and surprised expressions covered some of their faces, probably just finding out that I had a soft side. I reached my bag and unwrapped a stake – it was completely blunt and held no magic- and handed it to Nickolai. He grabbed it in his small hand and wriggled to get put down. I allowed him, the minute he reached the ground he ran about the front green fighting the air only to slam the stake into the ground and let out a war cry that sounded more like an excited squeal.

"Papa, I got him, no strigoi are getting past me!" He smiled at me; he looked like the perfect match of his mama and had the same eyes as me. I frowned a little though as he said this, worry threatened to strangle me as I thought about my son one day fighting the monsters, diseased with death that I had been fighting since I was just a boy.

"Well the stranger has returned, welcome home comrade" At this I looked up, worry for my son put to the back of my head for a little while. I ran my eyes over the beautiful woman standing before me. She was dressed in jeans and a red, snug fit t-shirt, her hair was tied up just the way I liked it and she looked stunning.

"Roza" I dragged her name out slowly, knowing she loved it when I let my Russian accent roam free.

"So much for, I am currently rushing home this minute Roza. So much for the quarrel is sorted and I will be home for Nick's birthday." She sighed and frowned at me, standing with her hands on her hips she looked exactly like the amazing guardian that she was.

"I took time off being a guardian so that Nick can have some sort of childhood, something he can look back at with a smile, something he can tell his friends about when he heads of to St. Vladimir's in a few years time. I put my job on the line, Lissa's life on the line for him and you can't make it home for his birthday Dimitri!" _Oh god she was angry! _

I was beginning to feel hollow though, I had lost too many people that should have been guarding in the past to let Rose let me feel bad about how much time my guardian work took up. I was fighting the Strigoi for my family and for my wife. Nickolai meant the world to me but I wasn't the stay at home Papa. Rose knew this however; she was just trying to make me feel bad. She thought she was the one in charge in this relationship.

I walked over to her, knowing that the two guardians behind me were snickering at me, probably hoping Rose would stake me or something, so they could go back to the royal courts to spill the beans about how Guardian Belikov got his ass handed to him by the small but fierce Guardian Hathaway. I looked over at Nickolai before I reached Rose, he was currently sitting on the grass carving pictures in the ground with the stake I had given him, so much innocence, I never wanted to lose this.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been a few hours since I had returned home. Home being the cottage like house situated in the middle of no-where. I liked this house though, not only because I had my wife and my son with me but because it was a place where I didn't have to be a guardian, I could just be a man, and worry about my son when he falls over and scrapes his knees or my wife when I through my 'crap' about the floor not about defending royalty and fighting for my life. This house wasn't tainted with death and blood it was full of smiles and giggles.

"Papa!" Nickolai came scampering through the house at full speed into the kitchen. The two other guardians had just left the house after my long month away at the Royal Court, we had wrapped up the meeting quickly and settled on me going back out to the Courts in a month again.

Nickolai was still holding the stake I had given him when he finally made it into the kitchen. To be entirely honest with you, he looked ridiculous, and made a stake look more like a cuddly toy than a deadly weapon, but who could say no to those big brown eyes when they looked at you so piercingly your heart would throb in your chest or those little dimples on either cheek when he grinned and you just knew he had some crazy plan in his head, it was these moments that he reminded me of my Roza.

"Nick, why don't you go put the stake in your box of things from daddy? Your little collection is slowly growing, like you my little man" Nickolai ran off again, only to stop and turn around, gaze at me and then run off again.

"He was checking that you weren't about to leave. Dimitri, he misses you so much when you're gone."

Rose looked at me, not with anger or hatred, but with tiredness. Was she sleeping okay, She looked absolutely shattered.

"Roza, my beautiful Roza" I pulled her onto my lap at the kitchen table and just held her close, it had been too long since I last seen her and even longer since we had, had any time alone. Nickolai was three now. It had been about five years since we were criminals on the run. I felt very old all of a sudden, I was going on thirty years old and I already could say I had corrupted a minor, lost my soul, tried to turn my one true love into a Strigoi, been a criminal and been on the run and now I was sitting with a family. Letting out a sigh Rose got off my lap.

"I better go see our little monster, he is never this quiet." She gave me a wistful smile and slowly made her way to Nickolai's room.

_A few hours later..._

"So comrade..." Rose walked up behind me when I was looking out the window in the kitchen onto our backyard. There was a mini obstacle course set up for Nickolai; he always had to be the same as everyone else.

"Nick is in bed...you are finally home...what are you thinking?" She wrapped her arms around my waist and laid her head against my back.

"I am thinking Roza that you and I have some catching up to do" I turned around and grinned at her. She took it as an invitation and she ran. She ran out of the back door. So I played, I ran after her, after all running together was what we had always done best, how we got to know each other more at .

Sometime later we both lay under the oak tree out back; moonlight shone of Rose as we lay under a blanket, rather under dressed, but not worried because no one lived nearby.

"I love this, this peacefulness. It is something we haven't had a chance to have Dimitri..." She closed her eyes and drifted to sleep. She was so tired, probably because she still helped other guardians with their duties, she had to be a full time parent and looking after Nickolai wouldn't be easy, he is too like both of us. I hadn't been there when she had gone into labour with Nickolai, thinking back now I knew if I hadn't cancelled my duty and drove like a bat out of hell home she would very likely have divorced me. Nickolai was far too precious and giving birth to him was a once in a life time experience.

"_Comrade you get your ass in that car and you drive like there is four hundred Strigoi chasing you because our baby has too much of me in it and it's getting a little impatient, it wants out and it wants out NOW!" _

_I remember just running, phoning Lissa as I went telling her to phone for more guardians and that I had to get to Rose. Lissa understood and told me to get moving or else get a pen and sign the divorce details now._

Holding Rose's hand as she gave birth was the most amazing moment of my life. Hearing those shrieking cries from the little bundle of blankets just made me cave in. Tears ran down Rose's face as I got on the bed beside her and we both cradled our little baby in our arms. I remember feeling wetness run down my face too, but I wiped the tears away quickly. It felt like I had been tied to balloons filled with weights and when Nickolai was born all those balloons just floated away, I felt light as air.

"_What should we name him, Dimitri?" I was wandering the same thing, I wanted him to have a perfect name for such a special little man._

"_How about Nickolai?" I asked Roza, She looked at me and then down at our little bundle of pink joy and she smiled "Nickolai Belikov, it fits so well."_

And that's how we choose, I don't even remember where I got the name from, it was just a Russian name. I have to laugh now though, I talk to my son in Russian, wanting him to nowhere half of his heritage is but Rose is just so American, shortening Nickolai to Nick and calling herself and me Mummy and Daddy rather than Mama and Papa.

We had better get to bed, a proper bed I finally though. We were getting many visitors tomorrow, my return and Nickolai's late birthday celebration was something that everyone wanted to be together for. Taking a deep breath I quietly got up and carried Rose inside, I placed her on the double bed in our room and crept over the hall to check on Nickolai. He was sound asleep; I checked that his window was closed tightly and that the blinds were down. I then checked every corner of his room, slowly sweeping through the darkness, I closed the door after my thorough check, not completely though, I left a gap where I could hear him if he made a noise. I guess old habits really did die hard.


	3. Chapter 3

"Mama! I don't want too!" Nickolai was shouting now. I walked quickly across the hall. I had just been getting ready for today's little get together when I started to hear Nickolai and Rose fighting in the bathroom. I rounded the corner and couldn't help but laugh.

Rose sat beside the bath absolutely soaking wet and covered in bubbles while Nickolai floated about in the bath like a little duck and trying to climb out like a little monkey. Every time he tried though Rose was just placing him back in the water, continually trying to scrub him clean.

"You could at least help. This is when he reminds me of you!"

I looked at her lifting my eyebrows. "When I am in the bath or when you're wet?" Rose's cheeks went pink. "No, you get something in your head and you have to get it done then or you act like the world will end!"

"Son, what is this carry on for!" I looked at Nickolai, eyebrows still raised. I had raised my voice a little, trying to keep an inside voice though, so as not to startle him too much.

"Papa!" he cried to me "I don't want a bath, big boys have showers, you had a shower and mama had a shower!" I couldn't help it, I laughed and went over and lifted Nickolai out of the bath.

"Dimitri! Put him back, he needs to be clean for when everyone comes around!" She quickly closed her mouth though when I stripped down till I was completely unclothed and I carried Nickolai into the shower, I held him in the shower and washed him. He was giggling and laughing, wanting Papa's shampoo or should I say Papa's 'ham-poo', he didn't quite get his tongue around the 'shh' sound. I placed some of the shampoo on Nickolai's head and slowly washed it away, being careful not to sting his eyes. He and I then walked out the shower, Rose wrapped Nickolai in a towel and lifted him up to ruffle his hair.

"You get spoilt when daddy is here." She tried to sound stern but I could hear the laughter in her voice. I wrapped a towel around my waist and then followed Rose to Nickolai's room, we were going to get him ready together, as a family, like it should be.

"What is papa wearing; I want to wear the same!" My god Nickolai was a papa's boy today, I thought as I got a pair of jeans and a white shirt out of Nickolai's closet.

"This is what I am wearing _malyutka_" I gave the clothes to Rose so she could get him ready and I went and got ready myself, into dark jeans and a white shirt.


	4. Chapter 4

The knocks on the door started at 12pm. The first to arrive, to my surprise, were Eddie Castle and Jillian Manstrano Dragomir, also known as Jill. Eddie came in first and gave the hallway a sweeping glance before walking in followed by Jill, who came in behind him like a shadow. I raised my eyebrows at the lack of trust in my house safety but I let it go, I knew that checking everything was drilled into all guardians' brains and it was hard to break the constant looking over your shoulder when you were off duty.

"Hey Guardian Belikov, how was the Court work, Strigoi sightings seem to have lessened over the last few months, probably means nothing though. The bastards just keep coming back." Eddie was a dedicated Guardian but just couldn't seem to leave it behind, ever since his best friend Mason past away when he was still in training, Eddie didn't seem to have gotten over it as much as every thought he had, in return though, it had made a damn remarkable Guardian out of the boy.

"It went fine. Though it's great being back with the family." I replied to him with the truth but slightly twisted, everything did go fine at the Royal Court but I never do feel fine killing Strigoi.

Jill never said much more than the hello and the casual conversation that everyone seems to do when you see a friend. Up next came Sonya Karp and Mikhail Tanner, the two came in all smiles, except when Sonya came in she looked at me curiously, and then snapped out of her daze and said hello. As she walked past though she told Mikhail to go ahead and she came to me.

"Your aura is looking a little black and blue Dimitri, Why are you so down?" Turning to the woman who knew exactly what it was like to make mistakes, just like myself, and I said to her the only thing I could think of at the time.

"Sometimes, I wish that our world was different, that I could come home every night after work knowing my family were here. It never does happen though, then I think again, how bored of simple office work I would be and the thought that I am protecting my family sort of cheers me up." She patted my arm and went to see the others. She was ever so strange.

"Princess, nice to see you again!" I gave a smirk, I called her Princess because that is what feels right to me and also it irks her, she wants me to call her Lissa.

"Auntie Lissa!" A squealing little boy came rushing out of the living room and straight into the already open arms of Lissa.

"Hello little Nickolai!" She picked him up and held him close, he was wriggling though, Nickolai then started shouting on the person that was behind Lissa, his concentration span was about two minutes when there was excitement going on. It was Christian, his grinning face looked at Nickolai and then while doing so he set himself on fire, wild orange and yellow flames flickered all over his body, he waved his arms around to make shapes of light in the air. I stepped forward ready to grab Nickolai, how dare he come in and put my child in danger. I stopped myself though when I saw both Lissa and Nickolai were alright and in fact my son was watching Christian with wide eyes full of wonder. Nickolai started to giggle and squeal and when Christian put out the flames, he grabbed Nickolai and started to ask him about his day. Christian was looking at Nickolai though with a smile and when he placed Nickolai back on the floor he glanced at Lissa, her face slowly going pink. Hmmm something was going on there. I left it though, no point in getting involved. They then followed into the living room and I was behind them.

"Papa is home!" Nickolai screamed as I entered the living room.

"Really...where?" I heard Rose exclaim loudly and dramatically look around her and under the cushions playing along with Nickolai.

"He is here mama!" Nickolai ran to me arms wide and at full speed, I knelt down and he came crashing into my arms. I hugged him close to me. "Ahh you found me Nickolai." I whispered in his ear as I heard laughter grow around the living room.

_A few hours later..._

The party was going well, everyone was gathered together, there were six guardians, if you include the two that came to protect Lissa, and there were four moroi and a special little monkey running in-between them all wielding a blunt stake and pretending to _'protect the princess '_, Lissa played along calling Nickolai her little hero_. _

"Well, well, well Nick my man you grow any taller and your are going to be too big to fit through doors!" A rather cheerful voice came from behind me, everyone stopped speaking and turned around to see a moroi standing behind me. "Adrian".

"Hello there Cradle-robber, what brings you back here, me and Rose were doing fine bringing up the little man, while you were away playing with stakes." Adrian smirked at me and I felt the anger pulse through me, I knew he was joking, but I couldn't help but think and regret leaving Rose to go to the Court in the clutches of her ex-dream walker-boyfriend. "To be entirely honest, I told Rose plenty of times to come home with me instead of being here, on her own, Nickolai is perfectly welcome too, my little man there is like a best friend" He was rubbing salt into a wound and I was close to pounding him, I began to walk towards him. Everyone was quiet.

"In your dreams Adrian!" Rose announced just before I killed the idiot.

"Yeh babe, I am always in your dreams aren't I" He winked at Rose, I didn't think twice, checking that Nickolai was now beside Rose I launched at Adrian. The boy had it coming, at that moment I didn't care that he was Rose's friend, to me he was the prey and I was the predator.


	5. Chapter 5

I grabbed Adrian by the neck and pushed him up against the back wall of the living room. I knew I was making a seen yet somehow I couldn't care less. Adrian had annoyed me and I was already on edge. My hand was wrapped around his neck in a choking grip. Enough to make it seriously uncomfortable to breathe but not enough not to talk.

"Why do you do this to yourself Adrian? Rose had never wanted you, she may have been with you for a little while, but you know what you are. You know you are nothing more than a rebound guy!"

Adrian stopped struggling, before he had been holding onto my hand trying to open my vised grip but now he just dropped, the only thing holding him up was me, and feeling slightly stupid now I released him. I wanted him to sink to the floor, show to him, yet again, that I was the winner when it came to Rose, I had the family and I had a son, but he didn't instead he stood tall and stared right into my eyes. Nickolai was my son and anyone who dared to stake a claim over him would realise very quickly that it was a bad idea. We were glaring at each other now, almost like two opposing teams waiting for the start of a battle.

"Uncle Aid-way-in!" Nickolai broke the intense and frankly quite eerie silence that hovered over the room and came running straight into Adrian's arms. Adrian, like me, knelt on the ground and hugged him back, then he picked him up and set Nickolai high on his shoulders, I felt powerless to stop him because Nickolai was now looking at me with confusing and something else that utterly stunned me to silence, he looked at me with fear. I realised now that hurting Adrian in front of Nickolai had been wrong for so many reasons, not just that I was initiating harm on someone who did not harm me first but I had managed to show my son how strong I was but instead of on a monster hiding in his closet or under his bed , I had hurt someone that Nickolai obviously had grown to love.

"Why did you hurt Uncle Aid-way-in papa?" Nickolai looked at me with glossy wide eyes. He held tightly onto Adrian's hair, so tight it had to hurt but Adrian never said one thing against it. I swallowed, my mouth had gone dry, and my heart felt like it was breaking. My son was asking me why I hurt someone and for once in my life I could not think of anything logical to say to him.

"Nick. Your dad was just playing around. Like when you play fight with him or with me."

While saying this Adrian removed Nickolai from his shoulders and held him in his arms.

"Why did he give you boo boos?" Adrian laughed, he never did understand where Nickolai got that word from and quite honestly neither did I. Looking at Adrian I realised I had bruised his neck; long finger shaped marks marred his skin and were slowly turning into red blotches. That is when Lissa stepped forward, giving Nickolai a little smile she told him she had a magic trick and slowly she laid her hand upon Adrian's neck and slowly the little angry red blotched disappeared.

"Now Adrian's boo boo's have gone away" Ahh so that is where he had picked the word up from I thought to myself as Lissa broke the silence again by declaring she had presents for the little munchkin. With the word presents Nickolai launched himself into Lissa's arms and then wriggled to the floor, to stare up at her with big puppy dog brown eyes.

_After presents..._

Lissa hadn't been kidding when she said she had brought presents. After Christian came in with Eddie haling never ending amounts of boxes I knew she had gone overboard but I never said anything, after my outburst I had stayed in the back, not wanting to ruin anything else for Nickolai.

Rose came up to me after Nickolai had opened many of his present and was now silently playing with them all. She came up beside me and I opened up my arms to her. Mostly everyone had left by this time it really was only Adrian who had stayed, against my judgement, and was now quietly sitting cross legged on the floor playing with Nickolai.

"You comrade are so tense you feel like you are made of concrete. You haven't been the same since you came back. If it is something that has happened in Court then either tell me or leave it in Court because this, this fighting and alienation from everyone is not going to get any better." She looked up at me one hand was settled on my chest and one hand played with the strands of my hair that had fell out of my hair tie.

"Or is it us, Dimitri, are we not...well are you having second thoughts. Though you have survived me for five years or so, was it five years too much?" Rose had hardened her emotions, not giving me a clue to what she was feeling.

"Oh Roza...We are stronger than ever, I love you my _opekun._" I looked her straight in the eye while saying this. I didn't want her to second guess, that she was my guardian; she guarded me, our son and my heart. "I just feel like I am not going to have this, peace, for much longer, call it my gut instinct." I let out a breathe and held her close. She snorted, trying to smother a laugh and not being successful she shook with laughing so hard. "Oh there's my Dimitri back with his 'yoda comments'_" _

Later on Adrian got up to leave but instead came over to me.

"Why don't I take Nick to mines tomorrow, we can have some Uncle to nephew bonding time, he will be with the royal Guardians all day and you and Rose can have some time for the two of you."

I looked at him, totally taken aback when I saw the truth in his eyes. He really did want to look after Nickolai.

"Why would you do that? You hate the fact Rose chose me. You hate me enough to rile me, Christ I pinned you against the damn wall for making one measly comment."

I looked at Adrian and he just shrugged. "I know what it's like when your parents grow apart, or when one parent doesn't put as much into the family as the other, sometimes you just need a reminder of how you felt when it was just the two of you. Anyways, I can teach Nick some rebellious techniques; you know get him ready to be a teenager and all that." He then walked off, shouting bye to Rose and Nickolai then turning to say "I will pick him up at eight in the morning, giving you all day; you come pick him up when you want." I smirked at him.

"You will actually be sober enough to get up at eight in the morning?"

Adrian replied with a wink "Who says I will be going to sleep."


	6. Chapter 6

(Hey everyone hope you don't mind but Adrian is going to have a little POV in this chapter. It's just so we can get a little peak into his world and how awesome an Uncle he can be!)

Also thank you so much for all the lovely things all my reviewers have said, to me that make me famous, so I am over the moon!

...

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_

I heard the alarm go off on my phone, Rose was still fast asleep, so as quiet as I possibly could I crept over to the nightstand and switched the alarm off, I didn't want to wake her up, she had been looking so tired lately. Stepping back slowly I... "OUCH!" I turned quickly to glare at the object which I had just stood on, it was Nickolai's stake, it may be blunt but those things were sorer than Lego to stand on!

"Dimitri, its Saturday, why are you up?" I smiled a little at her annoyed tone of voice, Rose really wasn't a morning person. Leaning down I kissed her forehead. I whispered to her "Adrian is picking Nickolai up in half an hour, so turn that frown upside down and get ready for a fun filled, childless day."

I walked out the room, letting the meaning of that sink in for her and continued to walk into Nickolai's room. As usual, the early riser was sitting on his bedroom floor playing with the train set Lissa had given him for his birthday. He was still dressed in his all in one cosy pyjama's, it was black and white and in the pattern of a Dalmatian dog, it even had ears when Nickolai put his hood up.

"Morning Nickolai, It's today you get to go to Uncle Adrian's, you want to bring some things with you?" Nickolai looked up and nodded infusiasticaly. He trotted over to his like cupboard with shelves and pulled out his silver bouncy ball and placed it in his rucksack and then trotted over to his drawers and pulled out a colouring book and pens. While Nickolai was filling up his rucksack I got his clothes out for today.

Once he was dressed and had filled his rucksack up with stuff that he probably wouldn't even play with but still wanted it close by, I left him in his room and went downstairs to make some breakfast. I had made up porridge with strawberry jam when Nickolai came downstairs. Scooping him up in a hug I reluctantly placed him at the table and he started munching on his breakfast.

"Papa, I drew you a pic-tur, it's upstairs, on my bed." I smiled at Nickolai.

"I'll get it when Uncle Adrian picks you up, I can put it on the wall or we can get a frame, that okay with you?"

"Yes!" Nickolai started hurrying when he heard the doorbell ring. I told him to slow down or he would be sick and went to answer the door. Adrian was standing outside in jeans and a green hooded sweatshirt, his hair totally dishevelled but he was here at eight in the morning, so I was pretty impressed. I let him in just as I heard scrambling down the corridor.

"Papa, I have finished. I will go get my bag."

I went into the closet at the bottom of the stairs and pulled out a grey hooded sweatshirt and a black jacket and Nickolai's black boots.

He came thumping down the stairs his backpack in tow but when I looked up he was crying.

"What's wrong Nicky boy, your coming to my house, why are you so sad?" Adrian went over to him and knelt down.

Snuffling we got an answer out of him "I...can't...find...my...stake!" he had tears running down his face "A good guardian always has a stake Papa!" I went over to him. "It's in me and mama's room, I stood on it this morning. Go get it and say bye to mama while you're there."

He went running upstairs and then some time later came running back down again, the stake held firmly in his hand and a smile plastered on his face. I helped him put his coat and shoes on and handed Adrian the bag. Adrian opened the front door and grabbed hold of Nickolai.

"You not going to say bye to your daddy Nick?"

Nickolai turned around and ran over to me giving me a hug and kissed me on the cheek.

"Bye papa, see you tonight" He gave me one last hug and then ran outside, Adrian said a quick bye and they were both off. I worried a little; I had never let anyone else look after him while I wasn't around before.

_Adrian's POV_

We arrived at my house a little while later, I had moved into a small bungalow house with a few bedrooms and hot tub around the back. It was really all I needed. I was barely ever home except for time out of the real world and for sleeping.

I got out the car and grabbed Nick's bag and we walked into the house together. Nick ran into the house like he had lived there his entire life. He had been there often enough over the past few months though to get away with that. Rose had asked me to look after Nick once when Dimitri first went away on his long work trip in the Courts, she had apologised for 'dumping' the responsibility on me but to be honest when he wasn't here I missed him, I missed the constant chatter, even if it was about cartoons or about his day, I missed the sound of footsteps scrambling around and the banging of things as he dropped toys or staked evil furniture.

"Uncle Aid-way-in, what are we doing today?" Nickolai had shedded his coat and shoes at the bench seat by the table and was now standing at my feet staring up at me. I had always seen Rose in his face whenever he looked at me maybe that was another reason why I liked having him around, because the real Rose sure as hell wouldn't be looking at me like that, not anymore anyway.

"How about splatter painting? We will get the canvases I have in the spare room and we can go outside and through paint at them" I didn't get a spoken answer from Nick instead I got an excited squeal as he started jumping up and down.

I watched him put his wellie boots on and I got an old t-shirt of mines and put it on him. Changing into old clothes myself I grabbed the canvases and paint and brushes and we headed outside. I watched Nick once I had set them up through paint at the canvases, there were blue and green and yellow and red and purple paint in little bowls and Nick was armed with a giant paintbrush and I just let him go wild. This is the kind of art I love, the type that is totally spontaneously done and the type filled completely with love. Watching Nick run about throwing paint and getting in a total mess made me wonder if I would ever have any kids of my own. A wife who wouldn't leave me for the guy that kept leaving, or chose his work over his family, the guy who said he was protecting his family but doesn't really know whether or not there in danger as he is so far away. I looked over at Nick again, shaking of my line of thought, I noticed Nick's aura was glowing, but it had a little corner of darkness in it too, it worried me a little after seeing how dark Rose's aura went once or twice before.


	7. Chapter 7

_Dimitri POV_

After an hour to two hours of trying to get Rose to wake up and get out of bed we both went out for a walk. It was sunny outside and me and my Roza walked hand in hand down the trail, through the forest edge just down from our house and then finally into the forest clearing. I hadn't gone back to bed after Nickolai got picked up; instead I had checked on Rose, seeing her sleep and hearing her soft breathe I quickly grabbed a blanket, candles and a basket. I filled the basket up with food I had made the night before, after Adrian had told me he would take Nickolai for a day and the set off for the clearing at nine o'clock in the morning. I laid the blanket on the ground, and set out plates and cutlery and then surrounded the place with candles. The candles were scented with rose and they made the clearing smell delightful.

Rose entered the clearing first and took in a deep breath. Her hand came up to her mouth in shock and wonder and she slowly turned to me. I stood behind her, I knew I had a grin on my face but I had to think of something romantic but quick, so I thought why not have a picnic.

"Dimitri, it's so beautiful. I've never had a picnic before." She came over to me and I wrapped her in a hug and slowly brought my lips down to hers, when they touched it was like I was floating, she tasted so good and it was so peaceful. "Only for you Roza" I whispered to her in-between kisses as she grabbed hold of my hair and my shirt, trying to get closer. "The food will either be eaten by wild animals or get cold, so why don't we eat" I slowly pulled away and we walked to the blanket and settled down. The entire time Rose stayed wrapped up with me. We even had to walk weirdly but I didn't care. I was with my Roza; there was nothing around but the two of us... until my phone went off. It shrilled through the silence. I groaned, why couldn't we have any peace? I left it to ring and brought Rose closer to me, she sat between my legs with her back to my chest as we munched on the small snacks. I kept pressing kisses to her neck, hearing small sigh and moans coming from her mouth I knew she was enjoying this as much as I was.

My phone shrilled again. With a groan I answered this time.

"What!" I barked down the phone, someone better be bloody dead if they dared interrupt my time with my wife.

"Sorry Dimitri, it's Adrian...Nicks is...Nicks missing" Adrian barely could get the words out before I had jumped to my feet, shouting directions to Rose. We both frantically ran from the forest and got into the car. I drove at the fastest speed I could, there was no word from Rose, I had put her on the phone to Adrian while I was driving, to try and get the story of what happened.

"Dimitri, Adrian said he had left Nickolai outside for five minutes tops so he could go answer his house phone, when he got to the phone it was silent, nobody was on the other side, a prank call, by the time he had got back to Nickolai though, he was gone. The paint was still wet on his paintbrush and Adrian said the royal guards that were close by found his stake lying on the roadside."

Rose said it so quickly I had to listen carefully, inside my heart was jumping at hundred miles per hour. I knew Adrian couldn't be trusted to look after a child; he could barely look after himself half of the time. Rose was shaking, I laid my hand over hers as I was driving and told her that I will hunt whoever took him and they will no longer be living. They took my son they lose their lives.

My phone rang again; I answered it quickly this time.

"Dimitri speaking"

"Hey Guardian Belikov, we have some bad news, Prince Adrian has gone missing. We went out to look for any escape marks, such as broken hedges, tyre marks; we were out for about fifteen minutes and came back to a trashed house and a missing royal."

I took a deep breath. We had literally just hung up with Adrian five minutes ago, which means whoever had taken Adrian had also taken Nickolai.

"Rose, Adrian is missing, that was his guardians, they went out looking for Nickolai when they came back Adrian was gone and his house is completely trashed."

Rose's face went pale. The light dimmed more from her eyes and her eyebrows went down, she was completely hardening and she was ready to hunt.

We continued to drive down the road leading to Adrian's house. Before we got there though, I saw a flash, like sun hitting of something and reflecting back catching the side of my vision, I slowed down and turned around, that's when I noticed it was a gun being held at arm's length by a tall man, I ducked down, shouting to Rose to do the same, I was too late though, the mysterious man had pulled the trigger and hit Rose in the back as she tried to get down, the entire window shattered as the bullet went through, Rose screamed but then there was silence.

"Roza hold on...please Roza hold on for me." I shouted at her as I continued to drive at the highest speed I could, we could get to Adrian's and get help. She was bleeding really badly and she just lay slumped on her seat, her eyes closes and her breathing quiet.

I got no answer from her.


	8. Chapter 8

(Hey there everyone, I amen't sure if I like this chapter or not, you know when you right something then go to publish it and think, people are going to hate this. This is one of those times. Please don't be afraid to tell me I am loosing my touch or if I have taken things a step to far, I can find work arounds to solve your dilemmas in future chapters! I don't own anything either, all these magnificent characters -except Nickolai- were created by the master mind Richelle Mead and so was the world of which this is set in )x

Things went from bad to worse. I had Adrian's house within my sights and my foot was flat on the floor, increasing the speed of the car more and more by the second. It was too late though by the time I had noticed the spikes laid across the road, it was just too late, with a pop and a squeal the car jerked to the left, I tried to follow the jerk but because of the speed that I was travelling at the vehicle turned, we completely tumbled over. When I knew I had lost control I tried to reach for Rose, she was already hurting enough and wouldn't have the energy to push back in her seat and try and survive this. I couldn't though, the impact of the car hitting the road was agonising and I felt every bone in my body rattle, my seat belt tightened into a strangle hold around me and it held me back. We had rolled for a while now, my head continually hitting the metal roof until we stopped. I looked over at Rose and felt tears sting my eyes when I caught a look at her. The blood coming from the bullet had increased and covered her literally from top to bottom, she was scratched from broken glass, her hair had came undone and was now waving in the slight breeze. She was pale, like a ghost and as I reached over I noticed her chest wasn't moving. My heart rate went so high I could have easily had a heart attack then and there, my Roza, my beautiful Roza. She couldn't be dead. She couldn't. All the time that I had to catch up on, five years of marriage, I had lost my son, I couldn't live with loosing Roza too.

"GUARDIAN BELIKOV, CAN YOU HERE ME?" I was in a daze when I heard that voice, I groaned as I tried to move but couldn't. The voice was so similar to Guardian Petrov.

"Right, three over to the door, Janine get the roof and I and Eddie will get the Dimitri out."

I heard movement outside of the metal prison, I could barely respond. I must have passed out or had worse injuries than I thought.

The door came off the car and arms came into the car and pulled me out, pain shot through me, letting out a groan, I let them pull me onto the roadside.

"Well Belikov, you sure gave everyone a scare!" I turned to see Alberta kneeling down beside me, with Janine Hathaway on her right. That's when I remembered, Rose.

"Rose! Did you get Rose?" I frantically pleaded with Guardian Petrov, I had never pleaded before but I couldn't get to her so this was the next best thing. Alberta looked up startled and then ran to the car with both Eddie and Janine on her tail.

"Oh My God!" I heard Alberta shout at the other guardians to come quick and I turned my head to the left just in time to see Guardian Alto and Guardian Petrov pull a white body from the car, covered head to toe in red and the main thing, she was not moving.

"Rose...Rose wake up! Rosemarie Hathaway you get up right now!" Janine was shouting and screaming at Rose to move but she wasn't moving. Medics surrounded Rose, seeing that her injuries were much more important than mines.

"We need a defibulator. We need it NOW!" The medics were running around, some had taken the bullet out and were now trying to stop the flow of blood others were trying to revive her. My perfect, free spirited wife, my Roza was gone though. I lay back, repeatedly hitting my head of the tarmac road. I felt the tears run down my face, I didn't care, and I didn't even try to wipe them away. My thoughts had just shut down, I was numb. I couldn't think straight, I was disappointed in myself, I had worked my entire life to survive all that life had to throw at me, I worked to protect my family from strigoi, to rid the world of the evil that they carried. I didn't however take the time to remember the accidents, the murders and the disease that humans could catch or become. I had left thinking my family were protected and by the time I had got back, Adrian was right, I was just playing with stakes. Strigoi are never going to go away. My family however could and were. I had lost track of everything, my son was missing, my little Nickolai was only three, barely even seen the world. My Roza was twenty three, so young, she was a mother and a friend but most of all she was mine, and I had let that slip through my fingers. She laid on the concrete now, the cold hard road, covered with blood, not breathing, not moving, not alive anymore to watch Nickolai grow up. She was just gone, in the blink of one's eye.

I can't remember how long I had laid there.

"_Comrade, get up! You have Nick to worry about now. No rules, just like in your westerns, you're in charge, make the difference." _

I heard Roza in my head, her voice irritated and loud. The voice shook me out of my daydream and I looked around, taking in my surroundings. The walls were completely white. A slow continuous beeping sound came from over my left shoulder. I lay on a bed, with silver bars on either side. I was propped up on cushions and wore only grey joggers. It was dark outside, I noticed this when I looked out the window.

"_I__ will always love you."_

"That's what I was supposed to say Roza" I whispered to the air.

I tried to get up; I was going insane, hearing that voice in my head. I had missed a full day, meaning a full day were Nickolai could have been alone. Rose would never have forgiven me if I had not put my son, our son, first before everything. I owed her that. I owed her everything.

I stalked out of the hospital. I had found my boots, trousers, shirt and leather duster. I got changed, I was still a little stiff and a little sore but at least I was alive. I strode out my room, out the hospital and over to the guys huddled around the parking lot. They were all human, bikers. "I need one of your bikes!" I exclaimed loudly as I reached them. They all looked up at me, eyes totally astonished. "How about no man!" they all nudged one another and laughed.

"How about I just take it." I said matter of factly, I went over to the red bike and grabbed the guy, lifting him off his feet and placing him on the ground. "Don't stand in my way, I am not in the mood!" I climbed on the bike and started the engine and drove off, first stop was to gather guardians, second go after the bastards who caused this. I will avenge Roza, I will hurt them for taking Nickolai, and they will probably be torn apart as they have broke every rule ever made, they took a royal, and that is something that just doesn't happen.

"_You forgot your own first lesson Dimitri. Don't hesitate!"_


	9. Chapter 9

I arrived at Adrian's house reasonably quickly. I entered through the front door, all conversation went quiet. Janine and Abe were sitting on the couch, Janine's eyes were all red and blotchy but they had the same idea as me. Find Nickolai and greave later, store the sadness in a box in the back of your mind, to open another day and let out the rage, let out the anger that boils inside you.

Abe must have arrived while I had been in hospital. Nobody asked why I was out of hospital, most had guessed. I had stopped to phone before I had arrived for all guardians and moroi who wanted to help find Nickolai and avenge Rose were to meet at Adrian's house and be ready to fight.

So far there was Janine and Abe sitting side by side on the couch, Alberta and Stan stood to the side of the room, Eddie and Mikhail Tanner beside them. The doorbell rang, I went to open it and Lissa and Christian walked in.

"Tell me it's not true Dimitri. Please tell me!" Lissa looked up at me worry crossed her face, fear for the loss of her best friend. I nodded my head to indicate that it was true; Lissa had silent tears streaming down her face. She hardened her look too and told me to count her in.

"I go where she goes Belikov." Christian spoke straight to the point. Rose and Christian had made a good team; I knew he felt the loss of her too. "Princess I can't bring you into a battle field, you're too high in royalty. I am sorry Lissa." She went to argue then thought better, nodding her head; she said that she would do what she could. Sonya came in next followed by Sydney and Jill. Everyone gathered together.

After speaking together, sharing ideas, Abe said he would start making phone calls, see if any of his contacts new anything. Sydney said she would speak to the Alchemists and Lissa was going to try and dream walk. She had never done it without the help of Adrian so she was a little worried she wouldn't be able to do it, but not worried enough to stop trying. I had one thing left in my head to do to find information. I was going to do something I promised myself I would never, ever do again. The thought made me feel physically sick but this was my son. I picked up my phone and went outside. I dialled the number; I purposely deepened my voice and brought my emotions under control. I held the phone to my ear and I phoned my Strigoi contacts, the ones who helped me kill when I was in my darkest place. If they knew anything, I was going to find the information, and they wouldn't survive the experience.

_Two days later..._

We had been hunting for days, sending out groups to search different areas. Abe had phoned every contact he knew off and none of them had heard of a three year old boy being spotted, any forms of kidnapping or taking royalty. Sydney came back with much the same. Lissa couldn't connect with anyone in their dreams and neither could Sonya. My strigoi contacts weren't speaking, but by the sounds of things they didn't know much or had got much smarter over the years. We were totally empty handed, we knew nothing, and I was losing hope quickly. How could you find a child when you didn't know who had taken him and you didn't know where to start looking?

It was drawing close to the end of the second day of looking and I was drawing up blanks, I had resorted to getting up at the crack of dawn, hunting trails, contacting family and friends, trying to find any sources of information and there was just nothing, like one minute they were there and the next completely gone. There was no trace of either Adrian or Nickolai. The royals were holding their own searches for Adrian and they too were drawing blanks.

All the time I was searching though I would be thinking of Rose. How she would have found them by now. For goodness sake, she had tracked down me in Russia when I turned Strigoi. One of about a million Strigoi and she found me. I missed her so much that I don't think this empty feeling in my heart was ever going to go away. Everywhere I went I would feel her. Her hands wrapped around my waste, a pull of my hair, cold and light kiss on my neck, words sent through my head continuously shouting at me not to lose hope. It was almost like she was standing beside me.

I walked into the kitchen, only to see Nickolai's stake sitting on the kitchen table, I grabbed it and walked outside, the stake had been totally searched for fingerprints, body traces, and tissue residue, anything to help but there was no clues. I closed the back door and walked across the decking and sat down on the stairs leading down into the garden. It was getting a little cold but I stayed there anyway, everything was quiet, Janine and Alberta were asleep in a spare room, Stan and Eddie went with Abe on a search and Lissa returned back to the Courts to see what the Royals had found. I was alone, I closed my eyes and tilted my head up to the stars and said a silent prayer, begging the lord for a clue, for help, for anything. Once I had finished I played with the stake between my fingers and hung my head forward. I had failed.

"_Dimitri, he misses you when you're gone."_

Remembering back to what Rose had said in the kitchen that day I had arrived home made my heart react and squeeze painfully. I miss you too Nickolai when you're gone.

I heard leaves rustle and I slowly brought my head up, that's when I spotted her, a faint haze of light but it was her. She stood in front of me wearing the clothes she had worn the day she died. "Roza?" I didn't want to believe it; I didn't want to lose her again. I could see her face; it was like looking through a camera that refused to focus. It was Rose though. The ghostly figure moved forward. She looked down at me, she was so pale. She smiled softly and she spoke words, though I could not hear them. Her lips moved but no sound came out. "What is it Roza?" She looked so frustrated. She scrunched her features up on her face and then with great difficulty she spoke two words.

"_Victor... Dashkov" _


	10. Chapter 10

(While writing this I am listening to 'Don't You Worry Child-Swedish House Mafia', 'Thinking of You-Katy Perry' and 'Hall of Fame-The Script' so you might get the mixture of feelings going through my head as I wrote this.)

Yes ladies and Gents, I have decided to do a Rose POV because, I have much more up my sleeve for her. Rose is far too arrogant to just die, all you fans out there should know that! ;) Enjoy!

Rose POV:

Well this just gets better and better, not only did I just go through the most hellish pain anyone could ever go through physically but now mentally and in my heart I was breaking because Dimitri needed my help and no matter how I tried, I couldn't connect to him. Let me take it back a step and go back to where my confusion begun.

_It was so cold, I had heard Dimitri scream at me to duck but I was too slow, I didn't have quick reflexes just now, my mind was on Nickolai and Adrian, what if they were hurt, what if they were dead. So when Dimitri had shouted at me I hadn't ducked and I got a bullet in the back as a result, and probably a shamed sigh from every guardian who had ever had the joy of teaching me. _

"Don't Hesitate, you hesitate your dead" Dimitri's advice was right after all. I had hesitated and now here I am standing at the bottom of a garden, fading between two different worlds. I was – when I was in the garden- staring at a broken Dimitri, he sat down playing with Nickolai's stake, moving it from hand to hand, his head bowed in what looked like shame, he just sat there, he looked tired and totally lost. And then within a few minutes I was thrown back to what I called 'heaven' because when I went back there it was bright, colourful, the sun shone high in the sky, people walked about all smiling, welcoming me with a nod of their heads and then when I had followed a couple to see where they were going, I was reunited with the one person in my life that I wish I could've saved. Mason stood there beside me, he looked so alive, when we both looked at one another we broke into grins and I ran right into his arms, hugging the life –or death- or whatever out of him. It really was Mason, he was here, and that's when I joined the dots, I started to look around then. We stood in a giant hall and to my left were Lissa's parents; they looked shocked to see me. Andre walked in then, speaking with a bunch of guys and when he noticed me, he too stopped, gaping at me, before breaking out in a grin and walking over to me, he lifted me up and crushed me in a hug before settling me down. I opened my mouth to ask him what was going on but no sound came out, that's when, again, I noticed there was no noise in this place, people were speaking but no sound came out their mouths. It was then that I was thrown back to the living world again, only to see Dimitri praying to the skys.

_I heard commotion, everything was so cold, and I was in so much pain, the heat burned through my back and over my shoulder to my neck, the bullet had completely hit my nerve system or it had too. This pain was too intense, that's when I heard Dimitri whisper words to me, I knew he would be worried but I couldn't move, scared in case it got worse. That's when I was jolted and that's when everything went dark._

I did not hear, nor did I see or feel anything after that jolt. Until I woke up at the edge of a road, I had looked to my right and gaped at the mess I had seen, a black four wheeler laid upside down, totally crushed on the road, glass was scattered in every direction and to the left of the car lay Dimitri, on the road, he continued to bang his head of the concrete, holding his hair in a death grip and tears were rolling down his face. I didn't understand what was happening. I tried to shout on him, but no sounds would come out, I tried to touch a small piece of glass and my hand went through it. What was happening? I looked over at the car again and that's when I noticed, my mum was kneeling on the ground holding a body, rocking it back and fourth, her shoulders shook the entire time and that's when I heard her cry. It was my body, I shrieked, or should I say I tried to. Everyone stood around her. Eddie, Stan, Alberta and a few other guardians I didn't recognise, all had their heads bowed in honor. I was dead. And that's when I was taken to the world of the dead for the first time.

Okay, so now that you know about as much as I know, let's go back to the present.

I was still staring at Dimitri, that's when I heard whispers in my head, oh my god, I was a ghost going insane, I needed some sort of councillor, and you get councillors for dead people right?

They were whispering to me, 'Victor Dashkov will know', 'He can connect to them'. I didn't know what the voices were on about but, my body took me forward, towards Dimitri and that's when I started to take shape, I stepped forward and leaves crushed under my feet. I was real again. I looked up when I got to Dimitri, he was staring at me, and he was in total shock, eyes wide, mouth hanging open and completely pale.

"Roza?"He looked so adorable, even when he was upset, frustrated, sad, disappointed, he still made my heart pound, I smiled down at him. I tried to tell him I loved him, no sound came out my mouth though, this is going to get annoying. "What is it Roza?" He looked at me, like he was trying to focus a camera. I took a deep breath and felt the words in my head form and I pushed them out with every force I could but the words 'I love you' never came out instead came the voices that whispered in my head.

"Victor...Dashkov"

I was totally out of breath after saying that, I felt like I was suffocating. I lifted my hands to my neck, that's when Dimitri stood up and reached out to me, I reached my right hand out to him and we touched, our hands then intertwined and he pulled me forward, I went into focus just as a tear ran down his face.

"Roza, my Roza, your back!" He wrapped me in a hug; I didn't know what was happening. Every part of my body tingled, and that's when I was rushed back to 'heaven'. Leaving Dimitri standing there alone, with only a name.

I looked up when I landed, or appeared back in the hall again. Mason, was standing next to me, pity carved in his face, he shook his head and the voice in my head spoke again.

"_You can't speak to them Rose, It's a gift to be able to go back and forth, to see them again but your gift only goes so far. No matter how alive you feel when you are around them, you are still dead."_

I tried to reply to him, when he raised his hands to stop me, he shook his head again and then pointed to his forehead.

"_Imagine the person in your head, open a door and then say the words, in your head, that you want to speak, they will here you."_

I imagined Mason in my head, imagined a wooden door, and then I pushed it open and shouted

"_Mason! I am freaking dead!"_

Mason flinched and then mockingly rubbed his head.

"_Good god Rose, no need to shout, I am standing right next to you!"_

Oh goodness, I am telepathically joking with my dead friend. When did my life turn into a sci-fi film?


	11. Chapter 11

(Sorry I haven't wrote in a long while! I have had tons of school work and I have just started a new job so I am trying to get used to that! I will try update more.)

( I also need your help! I need two new characters. A female and male twins. Both Moroi! Female has fire and Male has water as their powers. I need names and descriptions!  So show your creative side on comments! And hope you enjoy this chapter!)

Adrian POV:

Uch! I had just been pushed to the ground by the four guys in the truck. Well I guessed it was a truck anyway, I had heard the engine and I had to climb up into the seat. The guys came up behind me and took of the material covering my eyes; I cringed at the sudden light, but then began to focus on my surroundings, where the hell were these bastards and where was Nickolai?

I heard a door slam closed and I was alone. I got up and stretched out a little, the room was four walls and a metal door, there was a small cot lying on the floor, no covers and definitely no warmth, that's when I heard the sniffling, I turned quickly and ran over to the far wall, there I found Nickolai.

"Nicky. Shhhh! It's going to be alright little man!" I picked him up; he must have been put in the room after I had as he was crouched in the corner when I turned. I looked over Nick, from what I could see he hadn't been hurt, there were no bruises or scratches. I let out a small sigh of relief.

"Where are papa and mama?" Nick clung to me, like I was a life raft, he still sobbed quietly but at least he was speaking now.

I looked around, continuing to carry Nick, if I had my way he would never leave my sight again. The place looked like a cellar, complete concrete walls and a metal door. I walked over the door and gave it a shove and pull but no movement happened. I walked about the floor but it was just an empty room with a cot. There were no windows or even small gaps for air to get in. How the hell can we both survive in here, the air will run out.

"Papa...I want my mama and papa!" Nick whispered into my ear. He looked around too and shivered, he was only wearing a shirt and jeans, his jacket was back at my place, and it was warm while we were painting. I shrugged of my jumper and wrapped Nick up in it, better I freeze than him.

After a few hours, or what felt like a few hours, I couldn't tell as there were no windows, I laid Nick on the cot and let him sleep. He started wriggling though and I didn't want him to be alone so I too climbed into the cot bed and snuggled up to him, I pulled him into my chest and allowed him to get some sleep and hopefully some body heat. Who was I trying to kid though, Dimitri was once again right, and I am not fit to look after a child. So for once, I closed my eyes and prayed that Dimitri would find us and I tried to connect to Rose.

I woke up to Nick crying again, he was sucking on his thumb and curled around me like a little monkey. I wrapped my arms around him and that's when I realised there was no food and water, nothing seemed to even move or show signs of living. Nick was probably starving and getting more dehydrated by the minute, he needed something, but there really wasn't anything. It looked like our capturers decided to let us die slow and together, by locking us in and literally throwing away the key.

Dimitri POV:

It had been a few hours since Rose had visited me, I'm beginning to think I was just hallucinating though, because I went to try and tell Eddie and I couldn't, in my head it seemed so ridiculous, they would blame it on the stress of losing my wife and my child. She was real though and she had spoken the words 'Victor Dashkov'. Was she trying to help me? Would she come back?

I shook out of my stupor and went to meet Abe, Janine and Alberta. We were heading to see Victor today and figure out what was going on. Eddie had to go back to the courts, he was needed there urgently. Stan had to go back to the Academy and Sydney had jobs for the Alchemists.

Our numbers were dwindling as we were taking too long to find Nickolai, but never was I going to give up.

I woke up this morning feeling better, seeing Rose yesterday had calmed me, reminded me that spirits are real, and that she probably was always following me. She was okay for now, and she was Rose. Right now I concentrated on finding Nickolai. Today I was Guardian Belikov not Dimitri.

We headed out at ten in the morning, backing supplies for a long trip, we took the four wheeler and left. We had a few hours travelling to kill till we reached Victor so until then, we continued to exhaust ideas.

"Guardian Belikov, wake up, we are here!" Alberta shook me; I blinked and sat up suddenly. I had fallen asleep and we had arrived, what was wrong with me, I couldn't stay on alert if I couldn't keep my eyes open. I blinked a few times and took in the surroundings; it was just fields upon fields and a small cottage lying in the mist of it all. I got out the car, I put on my duster and grabbed a few stakes and we all headed in. Knocking on the door, there was no answer.

"Should never trust Dashkov, after everything, the man's still the same man as he was before."

That moment the door opened and Victor walked out. He looked frail, and he looked old. He still however had that mischievous gleam in his eyes.

"I need help finding my son." I didn't quite think it through though because he was probably going to ask why I would come to him and if I had replied with 'I heard from Rose, well her ghost' he was more than likely to slam the door in my face.

"So Rosemarie did here my call then." He smirked and I heard everyone take in a gasp. I nodded though, letting out a breathe of relief as I wouldn't know how to explain that.

"What makes you think, that I would help?" He asked slyly. That's when I had enough; I grabbed hold of him, and pushed him against the house. "You will help and you will do it so goddamn well I will have my son back within the day!"

He didn't look afraid but he did give me more information. "Rosemarie is currently between worlds, because she was shadow kissed, she still had one death on her shoulders to make up for, she however broke the bond between herself and Princess Vasilisa so she was then counted as part of the living. She has the connection to go anywhere she would like, but she has to be the one to figure it out."

I stopped and thought about this, I would process that later; right now I was getting more annoyed by the minute. "Where is my son?"

"He isn't with Strigoi, if that's what you're wandering. There is a new hunter in town, he is a bounty hunter for the humans, special humans that know of our existence and hate it with every fibre of their bodies."

That stopped me. Humans? Humans took my little boy!

"Nickolai Belikov and Adrian Ivashkov are currently, how I shall say this, in a human cage. They are being held were a human prisoner would be held, if kidnapped. Tonight when I sleep I will be able to use Richard to dream scope to connect to him, he must be asleep at the same time though or it will not work."

I backed down, totally deflated, and tonight was a long way away. I reluctantly nodded; I didn't want to waste anymore time, Nickolai could not afford it.

We turned and left after promising to be in touch tonight again. I don't know why Victor has helped us but I didn't want to know and honestly I didn't care, I would sell my soul to the devil if it could mean that I would hold Nickolai in my arms again.


	12. Chapter 12

Dimitri POV:

Today was the day; Victor had just arrived at my house. We stood in the living room, Nickolai's toys still scattered the floor and it just hurt so much not to have his smiling dimpled face in there too.

"What's the verdict Victor?" I asked him nicely to begin with.

"Well Belikov, I got in touch with Rose. Told her what she needed to do but there is a hitch."

I knew it the bastard wouldn't just help for the good of my son or me he would have his own plan, his own payment.

"I am getting old Belikov; I need Princess Vasilisa to heal me, permanently. She needs to be or you need to get someone with stronger heeler powers to heal me."

I can't believe it. He still thought he would get to Lissa, he had already took her before, had be spelled me and Rose so he could grab her, he hurt Christian with his deranged Guardians and used Moroi powers against his own kind. He even had his own daughter turn strigoi so he could avoid punishment. Nothing had worked, though over the years, Rose and Lissa had needed his help, and had gone so far as to break him out of jail.

"Hell no! Victor, you tell me where my son is!" I raged at him, it really was too good to be true!

"Ah now Dimitri, it's either your family or your friend." I took in a deep breath. I already knew the answer to that. It however scared me.

Adrian POV:

Holy crap I could use a cigarette right about now. I had resorted to pacing, it was time consuming and it kept me warm. I had tried to connect to Rose through dreaming and there was nothing, not even a glimmer, it worried me. Then I tried others too, Dimitri was awake, Lissa was awake and Eddie just was restless, like he couldn't get to sleep or was going into sleep and out of it too quickly.

That's when the commotion started, on my fifteenth pace, the metal door slammed open and five guys all dresses completely in black walked in, they held guns in their hands and their faces were covered with ski masks. Three guys walked over in my direction, so I headed to the cot were Nick was curled up sound asleep, the guys then pounced, I turned quick to dislodge them and got grabbed from behind, two guys were restraining me and one was fumbling about with metal restraints, he tied them to the cot and I got dragged over, I wasn't going to scream if that's what they wanted but I did wriggle and fight, Nick wasn't going to get hurt, I couldn't let him, I looked towards the cot, it was empty. I whipped my head around, frantically hunting for the little brown haired boy, that's when I seen him, cradled in one of the men's arms.

No! They couldn't take him!

That's when I was restrained to the bed. Well can't say I haven't been in this situation before, but usually it was for pleasure, and there were girls, not guys.

The guys slowly backed away, eyes never leaving me, my eyes never leaving the tall guy holding Nickolai. What were they doing, he was three, three for Christ sake!

The door slammed closed and I never heard a sound! Shit! I struggled but nothing loosened, I looked at my hands, they were getting very red, and they were bind with what looked like chain and cuffs.

Rose POV:

I had been in 'heaven' for a few days now. I had to learn what I could before jumping back to earth, I had learnt so far what I was, why I could jump and others like Mason couldn't and I was pretty practiced with speaking to people minds. What I couldn't get was the materialising in the right place. I had closed my eyes and imagined my house I had shared with Dimitri for so many years but when I had opened them I was in the Sahara Dessert, guess the words sand coloured walls got picked up more than the others did.

I hadn't heard from the voice in my head, for the two days, apart from a flicker at the end of yesterday, I had heard a few words, they weren't clear it was either. 'Move...To...Temple...lane' or it was 'Groove...To...Simple...Pain' and that just didn't make sense. To be honest, neither made any sense, but I was guessing that the first was right and that's where I was currently needed. I had got Andre, Lissa's dead brother to help me navigate the maps here, I only found an old shack in that address, and it had been abandoned for months, even years. What was going on?

"_Rose! I have found someone who has heard about shadow kissed people, who has had heart break but also someone who knows a lot about your situation."_ I turned around at that voice in my head, Mason had been trying to help me so much but nothing he thought of worked, I was getting ready to tell him to stop, when I halted, I stared, wide eyed and open mouthed.

"_Hello fair lady, I am named St. Vladimir, but please call me Vlad." _

Oh my gosh! Kirova would have a coronary if she knew I was speaking to the guy my academy was named after! Vlad was tall, he looked old but good old, not 'I am a senior citizen' but 'I am powerful and bow down to me' kind of old. After reading up on his books to find out more about me and Lissa's bond back in the Academy, I kind of felt I knew better than I do.

"_Hi!"_ I squeaked out, even worse, I squeaked in my head, I saw Vlad flinch but he settled again.

"_I have been told by my new found aguaintance that we have much in common. Shall we stroll and have a chat?"_

I just nodded, what the hell I was meant to say, the guy was a Saint! Those guys are kind of well, important.

We walked of together; Vlad was in the middle of me and Mason. We first spoke about how I had 'died', I had told him and he nodded solemnly, he had told me about Anna then, how she was the guardian who he had mourned.

"_Rosemarie, I feel like we could catch up forever. I must bid you goodbye for a little while though, I was meant to have accompanied someone to a friends and I am afraid I am already running late."_ He gave a small bow and said he would find us when he was finished and then he just walked away, or rather floated away, that was way to elegant for the word walk.

Max POV (New character, don't get confused ;) ):

I carried the small child in my arms, he was dressed in jeans and a white shirt and he still slept as me and my men walked away from the concrete room and into the control room.

"Sir, the Moroi have all been kept under control, except for Lily, she is using the fire to melt the door, and it however is doing nothing I just double checked."

I nodded, "Thanks for the update Soldier" and I carried on walking. This child was going to become one of my men when he was grown, a fully bred Dhampir fighting against his own kind. I think it was the smartest idea I have had yet. But he would miss the family he had for a while, but he was young enough to forget them as he grew, the picture of them would soon fade, and he would become my son. The heir I never had. I looked down at the bundle of life in my arms. I then headed to the control room again, turning into the darkened room full of computers, Simon was sitting at the camera computers. I searched the cameras for number fifteen.

"Ah our Prince Adrian seems to be putting up a fight" I chuckled, he wouldn't break those bonds, I had them made so not even the strongest of Dhampirs could break free, never mind a measly Moroi!

I double checked everything was fine and then carried on, I passed the underground gym and training centre, passed the cafeteria and went into the dorms, it was time to get settled, training the child started tomorrow. I had never believed in child soldiers but it is the only way to break him in.

(Ohhhhh! New characters popping up. I thought you might be a little confused so here's a quick character over view. Nickolai is Dimitri's and Rose's son, been kidnapped by human hunters along with Adrian. Max is the leader of the Human Hunters; he hates all things Moroi and Dhampir, but has had an idea to bring a child Dhampir up to be his own personal weapon. Simon is another Human Hunter, the computer nerd of the group; he gets his own little twist in the plot soon!)


	13. Chapter 13

Adrian POV:

What the hell! I had been previously asleep, with my hands bound above my head and my feet bound to the posts at the bottom of the cot. Now however I was sitting in a steam room, or a sauna, or I was an Adrian Kebab because I was heating up substantionally.

"Lily, that's it, hold the heat I am away to blast the water. Three...two...one!" Next thing I know I am absolutely drenched and that's when the chains snapped.

I got up then and looked at my 'saviours' one was a tall guy, quite slim, very blonde hair and brown eyes, he was the one with the water. Moroi, I said in my head, there's a surprise. The girl 'Lily' was my height, she had fiery red hair and gleaming blue eyes. Both of their skin colour was pale, sickly pale.

"Nice to meet you, this is Lily and I am Eric, you are Adrian, that right mate?" Eric seemed alright, quite friendly, I just nodded.

"Sorry seems to lack a little oxygen in here and moisture but Lily needed the oxygen to keep the flames and I needed to manipulate the moisture."

"It's fine man." I croaked out, he wasn't joking around, it was so dry in here I felt like scraping my throat for relief.

"How did you guys both get in here? And any idea where here is?" I looked up at them both and they looked shocked for a few minutes before composing themselves and telling me.

"We are in an old 'concentration camp' or something similar, it's been converted, these rooms were the gas chambers and you go down the line of corridor and the control room was the storage room. That's what we are guessing. I and Lils have been here for a few months now."

I just stared, months, camps, freaking chambers, what was this place?

"They have been keeping moroi here, working out our powers, trying different experiments on us, see how we tick I guess. Dhampirs are stored here as well. There a lot harder to keep though, most Dhampirs that they need are guardians and guardians are noticed when they go missing."

I nodded. "I need to get out of here; I need to go get a boy, three year old Dhampir Nickolai."

The Lily girl walked up to me and laid her hand on my shoulder, suddenly she didn't look so young.

"I and my brother think we need to get out first and then come back for the boy, there's only a small allocated time where we can escape and times a ticking."

Lily pretended to point to an invisible watch on her arm. I tried protesting but that was soon soused when screams started. Outside of the room, I heard the running of boots, and shrieks of fire from men. I looked at Lily as she continued to stare at the door, she was strong, I had seen Christian with his flames but nothing to the size of burning a building without being near to it, or even seeing it.

Lily then walked up to the door and hit it with her foot and it swung open. "It's not only Dhampirs who want to learn to fight for those they love."

That was all Lily said as she disappeared through the door. Me and Eric looked at one another and shrugged, following her out into the flames. I looked down the now burning corridor.

_I will return for you Nicky, I will bring everyone; I will get your daddy and mummy._

Max POV:

I grabbed Nickolai and ran at full speed out of the compound, the flames that had erupted meant only one thing, a moroi had gotten free. I cursed silently but continued through the compound. Nickolai, the little child, was gripping at me with fear in his eyes, he was young but he wasn't stupid he knew something was happening. I tightened my hold, he was too important for me to risk dropping.

"Sir, left exit after chamber five is still reasonably clear." I nodded my head and continued down, Simon was right behind me, followed by Caleb and Shaun, some other hunters followed as we scampered to the exits. Before I had left I had grabbed a handful of equipment. I was nearing the door when in the corner of my eye I noticed them.

Three moroi had just skipped the fence; my men lay on the ground burnt to a cinder. The red head, the blonde and the Prince. Perfect more problems on the horizon, I thought to myself.

"Take the boy Simon and get the jeep and get out of here!" I shouted orders at Simon; we didn't have time to grab the keys to the jeeps so my quick thinking told me Simon could hot wire a jeep easily, so I handed over my treasure and allowed someone to take my weapon to safety.

Simon cradled the boy, who was now crying, and struggling against Simon.

"PAPA!" The young boy screamed! "Uncle Aid-way-in!" He shrieked into the air around him. I turned quickly, I would not stoop so low to feel sorrow for a Dhampir, they had taken everything away from me. My own son didn't get given a chance, so neither would one of theirs.

Rose POV:

I had just had a conversation with the ancient St. Vladimir; my life had honestly gone berserk! I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I followed my thoughts to Dimitri. I needed to connect to him again. I needed to see he was alright, if he had found Nick yet. I imagined materialising to him, cradling Nick in his arms, smiling again. I was wrong though. I materialised in time to see Dimitri and Victor Dashkov going against each other in my living room.

Dimitri looked angry and defeated again. He stood right in front of Victor, I could barely here them, but I knew from Dimitri's face that the news was not what he was expecting. I decided to allow them to fight, I floated about my house, I missed everything so much, I remember when I and Dimitri had found this house.

"_Roza, I can't just stop the car." _

"_You have too! Look it's for sale! LOOK!" Dimitri had smirked at my excitement but had complied, slowly down and pulling into the side of the country road. He looked out the car window and then back to me._

"_It's screaming too us Dimitri, do you think they would let us see it." It was beautiful, fairytale cottages in the middle of know where. Dimitri nodded and climbed out, I had jumped to follow and we both walked up to the cottage hand in hand._

_An old woman answered the door and had introduced herself as Lucy Annie, she had showed us around, laughing as she went from room to room, and her love of the cottage was obvious._

"_This is the best part of the house, the back yard is fenced in, totally safe and secure, and could you imagine little feet playing out there, maybe in a sand pit or swing set." She said it so wistfully that I had an image of me and Dimitri running around after a little brown haired boy._

Dimitri must have had the same vision as I did back then because he had bought it, right there and then. I didn't know how he could have afforded it and I had complained that it was 'our' house, a home, that I should pay half for. He hadn't let me though, saying he got a guardians wage and he had no one to spend it on, he had plenty of money.

I drifted to our bedroom, I could still hear fighting in the living room, I wouldn't fully materialise till everything was quieted down. I remembered back to the memory's in this room.

"_We need to break in this room, It needs that homey feel to it" Dimitri had whispered seductively in my ear and that was enough for me, we had each other stripped down, skin on skin and on the bed within seconds. _

"_Comrade, welcome home, I love you." I had stared Dimitri right in the eye then. He had smiled, dimples showing a little on his cheeks. "Welcome home Roza, my sweet and beautiful wife, I love you." He had pulled me closer and we had just lay there on the pillows facing each other, just speaking, talking about what we were going to do tomorrow. What we still had to do, colour schemes, and that's when Dimitri had suggested we make the room across the hall into a nursery. I had playfully hit him, telling him to slow his horses. Inside though, my heart clenched, would I be a good mother?_

I felt ghostly tears run down my face, how had our relationship turn out so badly, why did I have to go and get myself killed. I would do anything to go back and relive all the moments I took for granted. Too just see the light in Dimitri's eyes, or the squeal of my beautiful baby son.

I carried on with my reminiscing, I had finally got to the living room, Dimitri and Victor were no standing glaring, I was still invisible to them, and I drifted to the couch though and just looked down at it. So many memories, sad, funny, romantic, this is where I told Dimitri that I was pregnant and he had gotten up and whirled me in the air, laughing. This is where on Valentine's Day Dimitri had taken the day off being a guardian and had spent the entire day with me snuggling with duvet covers watching the cheesiest of films. It was getting to hard holding back my sobs, so I let the tears run down my face. I then remembered my favourite memory.

I had just got in from guardianing and I had walked into the living room, the TV was on cartoons, the lights were dimmed and I had looked over to find Dimitri and Nickolai curled up, Nickolai being his tiny one year old self being held protectively by his daddy and both were fast asleep. They had looked so peaceful and so alike then. I had gone over switched the TV off then I had went to bed.

I couldn't stay hidden much longer, so with one last wistful look around I materialised in front of Dimitri. I smiled at him and began to walk towards him. All I could see was my comrade, I had forgotten Victor was even around.


	14. Chapter 14

(Feel free to tell me that I am loosing my touch. I just can't seem to connect to the story today! I wanted some parts of the story to sort of finish, so I feel this may be a bit rushed so I apologise for the 'crapness' of this chapter. Also thank you for the lovely comments, I am glad that I have consistent readers out there!) xx

Dimitri POV:

Rose had just appeared in front of me. She gave one of her grins and walked towards me. I blinked and then blinked again; she was really here, in front of me.

"Well hello there Rosemarie Hathaway, I would say long time no see but I seem to visit you far more often than I used to anyway." I flared my nose and glared at him, Rose had died and he was making jokes. Rose just looked at Victor with detest and then carried on over to me.

I opened my mouth to say I missed her but she beat me to it and instead told me to...

"_Shut up and listen to me, Nickolai is still out there Comrade, and you're here fighting with Mr I do nothing unless it concerns my good will. He won't help, turf him out of our house and start anew."_

She however never muttered a word when she spoke, I heard it in my head, I stumbled a little and held my head with my hand as if I could use it as a physical barrier. I love Rose more than the world but even I thought it was weird having a telepathic conversation.

"Impatient aren't we, well dear Belikov's you're son is now under the hands of a Maximillian Frost, goes by the name Max. He wants' Nickolai as a weapon against all things Dhampir and Moroi."

I stared at Victor, he let that information go within seconds, I had wasted over an hour arguing with him and he new vital information. My fist curled and I just wanted to hurl a stake at him, however my mind told me to stop and think, he may know more.

"_W...w...why?"_ Rose muttered, again in my head.

"Because his three year old son was killed by a Dhampir. Revenge is the strongest reason for doing things unjust."

"_Oh my gosh! Who would do such a thing as kill a child, no Dhampir would kill a child, and we all love little ones."_

Rose was still muttering in my head, it didn't make sense why a Dhampir would do such a thing but it wasn't important right now, right now I needed to know where they were holding my son, or training him. I shuddered at the thought, Nickolai was far too innocent.

"Travel to the cemetery, turn left, then carry on down the hidden road, you will find Adrian there and he can lead you to your son." I blinked again, okay something weird is going on, but before I could move, Lissa walked in, staring intently at Victor, she was whispering things to him and Victor spoke every time she finished. She was charming Victor into telling her what he knows, he must have let his subconscious down long enough for Lissa to enter.

She finished and that's when Victor hardened his features.

"You little brat! How dare you!" and he lunged but before he got to Lissa, Christian had stepped in long enough to light him up like the fifth of November. Victor screamed as the flames began covering him, he was hitting his arms and body frantically before finally dropping to the ground and rolling.

"You leave my girl alone you bastard" Christian let the flames grow lower and then switched them off like a switch of a light; he smirked at himself then wrapped Lissa with a hug.

"WHAT THE HELL!" I turned quickly to see Lissa staring past me at Rose.

"You were dead, but your here, your standing right there, like right in front of me!"

Rose stayed quiet only to outburst _"We all no I am here Lissa, yes I am dead but thought I'd pop back for some tea and biscuits...do you really think I would leave this plane when my son is missing and one of my friends is too?!" _

We all cringed, yep were going to have sore heads by the end of this conversation.

I grabbed the keys to the truck though, everyone followed, time to head to the directions, I left Victor half charred in the living room; he could do what he pleases. I didn't care. Once everyone was in – even a ghostly version of Roza- we set off.

Simon POV:

Why did Max do this, I looked in the rear-view mirror and noticed the little boy had fallen fast asleep. I let out a sigh. I understand Max wanted revenge for little Ryan's death but he didn't have to take another child. It's kidnapping and his wife Ria would have never forgave him. They had died though, and left Max. Max lost the light that used to be in his eyes. What Max didn't know is that it was a freak accident there death, Strigoi had attacked there house, Ria had been killed and Ryan had been bitten, nobody had noticed him lying under the table so he was left to bleed to death. When Max had gotten home all he saw was red and guardians and since then he had hated all things supernatural. What Max didn't understand thought was that for strigoi to attack there must have been moroi about, meaning both Ria and Ryan were Moroi, the same species he was so intent on killing.

The GPS was telling me to keep going forward towards our underground den but I couldn't, not to a child so I turned the jeep left. I travelled to where this all began. I went towards the Prince's house. I shivered; my life was probably going to end if there was anyone there. I scratched the back of my neck, my molnija marks were burning, I sighed, I had broken every rule of a guardian, I had tortured my own kind and had used moroi for Max, I had to though. He was my adopted little brother. I sighed again, seeming totally worn out.

The house was in my sites and that's when I noticed another jeep pull up and none other than a guardian and two moroi walked out. I drew closer. Taking in a deep breath when they turned at the sound of a car and I stopped, opened the car door and walked out.

"Who are you?" The tall man in the leather duster asked me angrily.

"I am delivering something that should have been delivered long ago." With those words I went around the car and pulled out the little boy.

"Oh my god! Nick!"

"You bastard!"

"Nick...oh sweet Nick!

That's when the boy was torn from my arms by the tall man and as he walked away I couldn't help but notice I was slowly catching fire. I looked over at the moroi and true enough the boy had his arms spread and was letting his anger wave off him.

"_Stop Christian, we need him so we can find Adrian!"_ I felt dizzy and almost faint, and in so much pain, the burning was too intense, I shivered and fell to my knees, and I looked at the person who said stop, she was a dark haired Dhampir. She turned to plead a look at the tall man and that's when I noticed her tattoos on her neck. Whoever she was, she would be safe, and the young boy would be protected.

Black spots covered my vision and I drifted into unconsciousness.


	15. Chapter 15

Adrian POV:

We had been running for what felt like hours, I really ought to stop smoking, my lungs were pleading with me to stop, I felt like I couldn't breathe I was that out of breath. Maybe I should join a gym, run on a treadmill for a while, honestly, the two other moroi were doing fine.

Lily sprinted ahead, like hells hounds were at her back, which was pretty close to the truth. I wonder if anyone started to follow us.

"You alright man?" Eric, the water moroi, stopped beside me, he laid his hand on my shoulder, I nodded, and this was getting embarrassing.

"Nearly there slow pokes!" Came a voice a while ahead, I knew it was Lily growling a little, I carried on running, Eric was at my side, we continued through the undergrowth and vegetation and not long we were at the exit of the forest and onto an old dirt road. We slowed down.

"Where do you live?" Lily came sauntering up to me, she looked fresh as she did when we first met, not even out of breath or not sore headed after all the power she used. She grinned a little when she noticed my rather confused face.

"It's not the first time I have ran Adrian, you should try it a bit more." She giggled a little and it was then I realised that she was young. She looked old in the yes but really she was young. She had seen a lot in her life that I respected so without thinking I told her my address and we were off.

"That's close by." She said. Worry clouding her eyebrows and I looked to Eric who once again shrugged.

We started off down the road. I was tired, but I kept going. That's when I got thinking about things, I wandered if Nicky was alright. I began cursing myself for leaving him. What kind of Uncle am I? I left a three year old to defend by himself!

"Don't beat yourself up too much Adrian. They hadn't hurt him while we were there, I doubt they will now." Lily was walking beside me now, she had slowed her pace to match mines and Eric's and she looked at me. I could see the ageing in her eyes again. It took my mind of things and made me focus on her, what had she been through, what was her story?

Dimitri POV:

I couldn't believe it! It was Nickolai. He was really here, in my arms. I held him close, I checked him over, there were no bruises, but he was crying. I rocked him in my arms. I lowered my head to his hair and breathed in, it was my Nickolai, safe in my arms again.

"Shh Nickolai you are safe _malysh_! You are safe!" I tightened my grip, I took comfort in having his weight in my arms again. I continued to rock him. I would worry about this stranger who had brought him home later. Christian had burnt him quite badly but had stopped and we had both carried him into Adrian's house and had secured him to one of the beds in the spare room.

"My baby Nick!" Rose came over, and she sat beside me on the sofa. She held out her arms and I placed Nickolai in them slowly, a little worried that he would slip through them, but he didn't, Rose gripped him with a similar embrace to what I did. She had tears in her eyes as she too started to rock him. Nickolai stopped crying and snuggled into his mama. I pulled them both close. Wrapping both of them in my arms we all just sat there quietly. Taking the time to just hold each other. To thank the lord for keeping our baby alive and well. I sighed into Roza's hair, this had been the longest week of my life, but it was far from over.

A few hours later we had Nickolai cleaned up and in his cosy pyjamas back at home, I had set two guardians on the man in Adrian's house and as a family Roza, Nickolai and I drove home and got ready for bed. Neither I nor Rose could let Nickolai out of our sight so we brought him into our double bed and placed him between us.

...

"No!"

I awoke suddenly; I glanced at the alarm clock at the side of the bed. 3.00am. What was going on I quickly looked at Nickolai, he was still sound asleep curled up in my arm, with his head snuggled into my side, I looked over at Rose, just in time to see her slowly fade. I tried to grab for her, but my hand went right through her and within seconds she had just faded into nothing. I sat there completely stunned.

_I am fine Dimitri, I will return when I can, you look after Nickolai; he needs all the love we can give him._

I heard her in my head, it was strange and for a moment I had an out of body experience, hearing voices when she wasn't in the room in a way was a little freaky but at the same time was rather comforting. I pulled Nickolai closer again and closed my eyes. Before I new it I had fallen asleep.

...

"Papa!"

"Papa get up!" I was getting jumped on.

"PAPA!" I heard Nickolai shriek, I new he was jumping on my stomach and even though it was uncomfortable at the same time it was bliss. He was with me. I waited a minute until he thought I was still asleep and then I grabbed him and got up.

"You up!" Nickolai screeched as I put him on my hip and he wrapped his little arms around my neck.

"Yes I am up Nickolai." I smiled down at him and remembered about his stake, I walked over to the dresser and pulled it out. Nickolai grabbed it and hugged it close.

"Where's mama?" I stopped dead then and turned around the room, she wasn't there. How I to tell Nickolai what was had happened to his mama. That she had gone, and I didn't know if she would come back or not.

I chose to ignore the truth for now and I told him that mama had to go work today. That papa was going to be looking after him. This had made my little boy hug me harder than ever before.

I started to spin around with him on my hip and then grabbed him and lifted him in the air.

"What do you want to do today?" I asked Nickolai as he grinned down at me.

"Why-in King" I translated that into Lion King and realised he wanted to watch DVD's. I complied. That was our thing, we had used to do that when Nickolai was one, I would sit and watch his cartoons with him and we would end up sleeping on the coach within a few hours in sugar comas.

"Okay Nickolai that's a good idea." I carried him downstairs and placed him on the couch and went to make breakfast, I brought breakfast through and I put The Lion King into the DVD player and we sat and ate in the living room, together.

"Papa, we are not loud to eat in living oom" He told me seriously.

"Shh we will just have to keep it a secret from mama." I mock whispered to Nickolai, who found this utterly hilarious and started giggling like a hyena.

I watched him as he sat in his cosy pyjamas with his bowl of cereal watching the tv and I just wanted to freeze this moment, I wanted to save it, so I could replay it over and over again, so I could re live it. I started thinking about the future then. Would Nickolai still want to do this with me when he was sixteen? Would we sit and watch movies and put ourselves in sugar comas? Or would he be too interested in being a guardian? Would he still want to be a guardian?


	16. Chapter 16

Rose POV:

I reappeared in 'heaven' Mason jumped the height of himself when I appeared right in front of him. He had earphones in and was listening to music, though I still found it completely confusing that you could listen to music through earphones here but the minute you put it on without earphones there was no sound. I guess they just didn't like noise here.

"_How did it go?" _Mason spoke into my mind, genially interested and excited to hear the news from back with the living.

"_Nickolai is back, Mason! Adrian is still missing though" _I went from grinning like an idiot to not looking so happy with myself. Should I have looked harder for Adrian?

"_That's brilliant for Nick! You and Dimitri must be so over the moon! What are they going to do today?"_ Mason was smiling, eyes a gleam, I had a heart clench feeling, Mason shouldn't be here, he should be down on earth, having a family of his own. I could imagine little Mason's and the mischief they would get up too, he is the type of guy who would spoil his kids rotten. He would constantly have no money because his kids would have everything.

Mason must have noticed my mind wandering because he gave me a sad smile.

"_Rose, you know everything happens for a reason." _I only managed to get a nod out.

"_I think Dimitri and Nick are having a father and son day! I can't exactly be there, I still need to figure some stuff out." _

Mason had gotten up and we had started walking, also in 'heaven' you could just think in your head where you wanted to go and then open the door and you would be there, so me and Mason were currently walking about a beach in California.

"_I want to show you something else we can do. We can glimpse parts of people futures. Like I glimpsed into your future when I got here and I saw you marry Dimitri, your wedding was really beautiful by the way." _

I felt in Mason's mind he was telling the truth, our wedding really was beautiful.

_I was dressed in a white dress, it was sleeveless and the back was slightly lowered, my molnija marks were completely on show, my hair was beautifully put up with small strands curling down to border my face. I wore a veil of which Dimitri removed from over my face during the ceremony._

_We wanted to include both of our homes so we had a cross between a traditional Russian wedding and your usual American wedding. We had the betrothal, the swap of the rings, and we had the crowning where crowns were placed on our heads during the wedding ceremony. _

_Dimitri looked amazing, he wore a tuxedo with his hair tied back, on that day he smiled throughout everything, eyes gleaming and once 'you may kiss your bride' was over Dimitri never left my side. As a traditional Russian wedding, it went on for almost three days, we partied, we loved one another and we spent those three days and the many days to follow joint at the hip, we never let one another go. _

Dimitri POV:

Nickolai and I laid on the sofa, me in my joggers and a t-shirt and Nickolai in his 'cosy' pyjamas. We had managed to watch the Lion King, A Bugs Life and Pinocchio before Nickolai fell asleep in my arms.

I pulled a blanket over Nickolai and went through the kitchen. I opened the top cupboard and took out the photo albums. The first was Rose and my wedding pictures. I opened the book up and looked at the first picture, it was of Roza, she looked amazing, her eyes shining, her cheeks rosy and her hair up and curled, her beautiful dress being blown about in the wind, I remembered this so well. I got a stabbing pain in my heart, she was alive then, and we were together and happy and now well now it was different. Rose was no longer living and we weren't together because she kept fading and we weren't happy, we were constantly on edge, constantly on the run or in a hunt, I took a deep breath and ran my fingers through my now loose hair.

"Papa!" I heard the scream come from the living room and within seconds I was up and sprinting to Nickolai, I turned into the living room, my heart going a 100mph and I looked around the room, sweeping for danger, but all I noticed was my son all curled up staring wide eyed at me and crying, I strided over to him and picked him up, he clung to me.

"I was wif that man again papa!" A nightmare, Nickolai had a nightmare about the bastard that had taken him; I cuddled him close and whispered comforting words to him in his ear.

"I want mama!" He cried and I felt the wet tears soak through my t-shirt. We just sat there together, soaking in comfort from one another. Where was Roza when you needed her like this?

I picked up Nickolai's stake, that I had noticed lying on the floor next to us.

"Nickolai. Keep this close and then you can fight off the bad man who took you." I whispered it to him and he took the stake and held it close to himself. He continued to stare wide eyed though. He looked terrified and nothing I was doing was helping.

Rose POV:

I and Mason had been trying to watch the future but I couldn't seem to do it. So after what felt like hours Mason opened his mind, connecting to me then looked into Nickolai's future.

"_Papa" a smirking brown hair boy came onto the picture being shown to me, this boy was tall, maybe six foot and he was muscular even though he looked too young to be that strong. He walked confidently over to Dimitri. _

"_Hello son" Dimitri walked over and put his arm around the teenager, and pulled him in and hugged him. The boy pulled away, his grin was wide and delighted, though it soon came annoyed when Dimitri ruffled the teen's hair affectionately. The boy wore faded blue jeans and a white t-shirt, his hair was choppy and short. When he turned to start walking out of the room that looked very familiar, I noticed on the back of his neck he had four molnija marks and on the back of his arm a very big scar running from the edge of his wrist up to his shoulder. _

"_Nickolai, you coming too?" The teenager shouted back the way he had came._

"_Yeh, I am coming Mishka!" Nickolai then came into the picture, he was Dimitri's clone, he even had the long brown hair tied back, he too came in with a smirk and spinning a stake around his fingers. The only difference was when he came into view he had a large scar running down the right side of his face. The scar looked sore and loud as it ran from the tip of his eyebrow right down to his neck. _

I pulled out of the vision. I was breathing hard.

"_WHAT happened to my sons face?"_ I couldn't stop thinking of the scar that was to come into my son's life.

"_And how may I ask does Dimitri have two sons!"_

"_I'm sorry Rose, you can see the future here but you can't always understand what happens in it"_

I was still constantly seeing the image of my beautiful little –or should I say not so little- boy's face marred with that loud scar. What could do such a thing?

(Hey guys! How does everyone like the story? And what do you think of Mishka? Dimitri has more children? Or does Rose somehow come back and have more children with Dimitri? What's up with the scars on the boy's? Tell me what you think in comments! I love getting responses from you all!)


	17. Chapter 17

Adrian's POV:

We had been walking up the lanes that lead to my house. Seeing the familiar shaped trees and street names, was comforting, I breathed in the fresh air and heard nothing other than heavy breathing and birds screeching. The countryside had always been much more comfortable for someone like me.

My house was within view, I looked over to Eric, who had started to wilt a little and grinned at him.

"This is my palace guys."

"I thought Princes lived in Royalty places." I heard Lily mumble, I couldn't help it, I let out a deep throated laugh and went up too her and switched on the charm.

"This is my home away from home. My palace needed new carpets." I winked at her and threw my arm around her shoulders; she wriggled out of it, which put a damper on my mood. She didn't like my charm? Everyone liked my charm.

"Looks good man!" Eric said wistfully, as we trudged down the driveway into the house, I flipped the switches and the place was illuminated in light, I squinted a little and then realised the place was clean and polished looking, thinking it was Rose I laughed a little, the girl could break up with me and 'hate' me all she liked but I knew deep down I was in her heart.

"Bathroom is down the hall and spare rooms are the two opposite one another at the end of the hallway. Make yourself comfortable clean up, Lily there's joggers and one of my t-shirts in the drawer by the bed and Eric the same for you as well."

Lily took off, looking every bit as cute as she was. Cute? Oh great here we go again. Eric looked around and lifted his head in a nod, some kind of respect sign I accepted it and walked into the kitchen, I was going to phone Rose and tell her to not worry her favourite guy was home and then I was going to tell her everything and we were going back for Nicky.

The dial tone sounded and it rung...and rung...and rung...

"Hello, Belikov here." It was Dimitri that answered; his voice sounded haggard and tired.

"Well hello there cradle-robber, miss me much?" I tried to joke about but I couldn't seem to get my voice right, hearing Dimitri reminded me of how I managed to get his son kidnapped.

"Adrian! Holy Shit! It's seriously you!" Dimitri shouted down the phone and I had to hold the phone away from my ear.

"Yeh, calm down, put Rose on!" I said, it was annoying speaking to the guy even though he wasn't such a bad guy, he still got my girl.

"Em...Maybe you should come around Adrian, there is a lot you have missed and I want to know where you have been."

Dimitri's voice changed, he sounded upset, tired, he sounded totally switched off. He didn't seem so god like on the phone, he sounded young.

"Yeh sure man, tell Rose her knight in shining armour is on his way." I tried to joke off Dimitri's serious tone but he wasn't having it. That's when I heard the shriek come from one of the bedrooms, Lily!

I threw the phone down on the counter and took off, and turned the corner in time to see two guardians haul Lily down the corridor, then stop dead when they saw me.

"Eddie?" It was Eddie and another guardian I didn't recognise.

"Adrian! Oh my god! Shit man, your back, and your alive!" He stumbled over his words, before dropping Lily's arm and he came over and pulled me into a 'manly' awkward side arm hug.

"Yeh, I am back, what the hell you doing in my house and what are you doing man handling Lily!" I rose my voice a few octaves higher than usual.

"We are on guard duty, the guy who brought Nickolai home, says his name is Simon, has been kept in the spare room for the last two days."

"Nicky is home! How the hell did that happen?" I was completely shocked and still, Eric had come out of his room with all the commotion, and was now standing behind the guardians looking just as shocked and Lily, Lily was shaking, eyes gleaming with unshed tears and she was staring longingly at the spare room where this so called Simon was staying.

Lily POV:

Simon. Simon is less than a few steps away from me. I couldn't believe it. I had even got to the point of blanking out the tall gremlin man handling me down the corridor further from the room. Adrian seemed to know the other guardian and they were welcoming each other.

By the sounds of things, Nickolai the three year old boy in Adrian's care was home with his family and Simon had been the man to bring him home. Where was Max? Why would Simon go against his brothers orders?

I remembered back to when I first met Simon, see I didn't just meet him as the hard guy who sat in the tech room, watching moroi get tortured, no I knew him as the soft laughable guardian who I loved and to be honest still loved with my entire body, soul and mind.

"_Hey there, would you be able to direct me to the food court area in here, this place is huge!" I had walked up to the blonde haired guy who stood tall and strong in the shadows of the bottom floor of the mall. He hadn't turned when I walked up to him, struggling to control a map that had to have been too big for a shopping mall._

"_Err...It's on the top floor, keep walking straight ahead, turn left, up the escalator to the top, you can't miss it." He had said to me quickly, without even flicking his eyes to me. In my mind that was rude. Humans! Well that was till I noticed the marks on the back of his neck. I gasped and at that startled gasp he had turned to look at me._

_He had a baby like face, his hair was slightly too long at the front and hung a little in his eyes, he had the deepest brown eyes that you felt like melting into and he had crinkling wrinkles on his forehead while he looked at me. _

"_You're a guardian." I had said in awe. I hadn't seen a guardian since I was a child; my parent's guardian had been one of my favourite people I had ever met. He had been killed though, in the same fight that had taken my parents life's, he was brave and he had made sure I was in a safe place before going to fight to the death against three strigoi. _

"_How do you know what I am?" He had whispered to me, he had brought his head down to my level, I wasn't small but he was just so tall!_

_I had then brought my hand up and set it on fire, he had opened his eyes astonished and then hardened his face back up, and he had told me to put it out and then done something completely amazing. He pulled my arm out and wrote his number on my arm. He then walked away acting as if he had never spoke to me._

It had been later that night after I had arrived at the hotel I was staying in that I had plucked up the courage to phone the number, it was two days after that we went out, just me and him, and he took me out for a meal. Within a few weeks we had been inseperatable.

The all the good had been taken away, it was a rainy and stormy night, quite cliché if you think about it, when I had met Simon's brother for the first time, it was also the last night I spent with Simon. He had sat and listened to his grieving brother, my heart had broken just listening to the story, and I don't break now though, I shivered. The guard who still held me looked at me questionably. I ignored him. Simon had took his brothers side and he had changed overnight, he had went cold, he had taken me to the compound and he had kept me there, no matter how much I cried and screamed he never let me leave. I had sometimes seen him walk about but not often. He avoided me at all costs and that's where I met Eric.

Eric had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time and was captured and brought to the compound. Turns out Max was trying to get at least one of each of the powers water, fire, earth, air and spirit. He was getting close he had got fire, water and spirit until we escaped.

Anyway, I hadn't seen or been close to Simon since I was put in The Compound, so knowing he was a few steps away made me both wistful and angry. He acted as if we were the couple that everyone dreams of being, he always brought me flowers, chocolate, he took me out on dates, we even had cuddly couch days watching movies but then he dropped me, locked me up like some kind of wild animal and then left.

The Compound had been a new building when I was put in it, Eric had been there just days before I came, and not all the rooms were complete so I was put in a room with Eric.

When you are placed in a room with no other human contact other than each other you get to know that other person very well. Me and Eric became two peas in a pod. We looked out for one another, kept each other going. We even tried to kiss once, just to see if there were sparks but there wasn't, we were brother and sister just not biologically and we were happy staying that way.

"Hey Lily, you alright hun?" Adrian was standing right in front of me, eyes wide and he looked worried, I was no longer being held by anyone, instead everyone was looking at my frozen state as I stared at the door of the spare room.

"Uncle Aid-way-in!" I heard a squeal coming from behind Adrian and that's also when I noticed a tall man with long brown hair pulled back with a hair tie and was wearing a leather duster. He held –or tried to hold- a wriggling little boy in his arms. The boy was calling for his Uncle Adrian.

I looked over at Adrian; I was surprised to see he was just standing there staring at the boy. He looked as if he wanted to just collapse in a heap.

"You never came around and you seemed in so much of a hurry you hung up, thought I would come pay a visit." The tall man said, placing the young child on the floor. The little boy held a stake in his hand and he waddled about the house like he had been there many times before. This must be Nickolai, I thought to myself.

"Hey Belikov, where's Rose?" Adrian asked him. Scrunching his eyebrows and nose up in confusion.

"That's what I need to talk to you about, you see, Rose, well we were in an accident..." I saw Adrian's eyes open in horror, he had gotten so pale and his mouth was gaping open and he looked so stiff. I wanted to walk over and just hug him; Eric had started making his way over to us. Who was this Rose?

"And I died." With a shriek I spun around, to see a fuzzy person coming more and more into focus.

"Rose." I heard Adrian whisper to the air. That's when the image came into focus and the brown haired woman wearing jeans and a red t-shirt walked over to Nickolai and picked him up, she hugged him close.

She turned to Adrian and she looked so sad and mournful, her eyes got glossy like she was holding back tears.

"Your...Okay!" She chocked it out. I began to feel awkward almost like there was something I was missing. So while everyone was concentrating on Rose and Adrian and all the chaos I made my way to the spare room, opened the door and slipped in closing it behind me.


End file.
